It is never a good idea to take a test that covers a subject you do not feel confident about. The Subject Tests demonstrate your interest, knowledge, and skill specific to the subjects that you are testing for. The SAT Subject Tests are standardized; they are used to compare your knowledge of that subject with that of high school students nationwide. The grades you get in your high school curriculum cannot offer such a measurement to colleges because some high schools are more difficult than others, and the grading standards vary based on the schools.
Students of equal ability might receive different grades, even in classes with a relatively similar curriculum. If you do very well on a specific Subject Test, you might be exempted from a basic class in that subject. It is a good idea to find out whether the colleges you are applying to use the SAT Subject Tests for this purpose. The best time to take an SAT Subject Test is right after you have finished a year-long class in that subject. For example, if you take Biology in 11th grade, then you should take the Biology Subject Test near the end of that year, when the material is still fresh in your mind.
However, this rule does not apply for the Literature, and Foreign Language Subject Tests; it is best to take those after you have had as much study in the area as possible. You should also use your list of preferred colleges and their admission requirements to help plan your high school course schedule.
You may want to adjust your schedule based on the requirements. A comprehensive list of when the Subject Tests are administered can be found at the College Board website. To register online, visit www. If you do decide to guess in this situation, pick an answer as much at random as possible, rather than getting mired in the wording of each choice.
For example, you may choose to always "A" on questions you're guessing on unless that's the choice you've eliminated to make your guesses as random as possible. Even with the tricky wording of SAT questions, your chances of choosing the correct answer are high enough here that it may be appropriate to guess. Say you have a set of 15 questions where you guess after eliminating two choices leaving you with three answer choices per question.
With random guessing, this gives you a net total of 2. It can still be risky to guess here because we're assuming that all the answer choices you eliminated are definitely incorrect. However, if you have done your homework on the SAT and are familiar with strategies for eliminating incorrect answers , you should be good to go. Additional Note: If you take a practice test, I would recommend marking all the questions you guessed on so that you can later evaluate the success of your guessing strategies.
This will also prevent you from just ignoring questions you got right by chance, which you should still revisit if you don't understand the material. While these tests seem to have a lot of questions in a short amount of time, you'll definitely be able to get to all of them if you study effectively.
Prep with high quality materials and train yourself in time management and pacing , the same way you would as an athlete. Taking two or three subject tests in one day may sound tough, but a lot of students actually get into a highly focused zone and feed off the energy of the challenge. Be strategic about how you schedule your tests, but remember you can always take the subject tests again if need be— most colleges will take your highest scores.
Now that you're familiar with the length of the subject tests, how can you decide which subject tests to take? This article will help you choose which subject test is best for you. Are you also taking the SAT? Just like with the subject tests, it's vital to know the format and timing of the SAT. Click here to learn about the SAT and how you can manage your time during this long test. Also, check out our famous guide to how you can score a perfect SAT score.
Are you more interested in the ACT? Read about how long it is and how you can pace yourself throughout the different sections. Then read about what a good ACT score for you is. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:. She has years of teaching and college counseling experience and is passionate about helping students achieve their goals and improve their well-being.
Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers. How to Get a Perfect , by a Perfect Scorer. Score on SAT Math. Score on SAT Reading.
Score on SAT Writing. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? How to Get a Perfect 4. How to Write an Amazing College Essay. A Comprehensive Guide. Choose Your Test. Language Subject Tests Some language tests include a Listening component.
Chemistry Subject Tests The chemistry test has a separate section on the bubble sheet for you to answer 5 special questions. Tips on Timing Time Yourself When You Prep As you can see in the above chart, almost all of the tests have more questions than minutes.
When she isn't strategically stringing words together at Magoosh, you can find Rachel riding horses or with her nose in a book. Join her on Twitter , Instagram , or Facebook! View all posts. Click here to learn more! Magoosh blog comment policy : To create the best experience for our readers, we will only approve comments that are relevant to the article, general enough to be helpful to other students, concise, and well-written!
We highly encourage students to help each other out and respond to other students' comments if you can! If you are a Premium Magoosh student and would like more personalized service from our instructors, you can use the Help tab on the Magoosh dashboard. Name required. Email will not be published required.
0コメント